The production of alpha olefins having unbranched carbon skeletal configurations and terminal unsaturation has been practiced for 20 or more years. See for example, Chemical Engineering Progress 58:85-90 (June 1962) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,227,773, dated Jan. 4, 1966. With the advent of the triorganometallic compounds, viz. triethyl and tributyl aluminum, large scale commercial production has occurred. The primary and desired products are the C.sub.12 to C.sub.18 .alpha.-olefins for detergent use and the C.sub.26+ for synthetic lubricants. The lower carbon atom compounds, viz. C.sub.6 to C.sub.10 have recently found utility in the polymer field and thus they are being recovered from the present day processes in increasing volume. In view of the increasing demand for these lower carbon atom .alpha.-olefins it would be desirable to have available a process whereby these compounds could be produced to the virtual exclusion of those having more than 10 carbon atoms in their skeletal configuration.